Missing in Action an Assassins Tale
by DeathAngelWolf
Summary: Rated M for Gore, Death and other things. Full summary in bold in Chapter one. Reviews appreciated.
1. Emergence, A New World

_**Exitus Acta Probat: The Outcome Justifies the Deed. (Official Motto of the Vindicare Temple of the Officio Assassinorum.)**_

_**For ten millennia; a lone man has slept in the murky depths of the Warp. Alive since before the Horus Heresy; this man slept, unaware of anything outside his dreams. He was a man of the Vindicare Temple of the Officio Assassinorum; an Elite killing machine, he was a sniper that all the marksmen of Man and even Xenos sought to emulate within themselves. He had been lost in the Warp in the 31st Millennium. On his way with several other Assassins. their orders? Kill the traitorous Warmaster Horus himself. He never got the chance; his ship was attacked by Daemons of the traitor Primarch mid-jump; forcing him to use an escape-cryopod, and flee into the unknown. Now, he sleeps; undisturbed in the Warp by anyone or anything. Soon though; fate will change everything, and the Vindicare Assassin will rise again, to hunt the enemies of Mankind in the Emperors holy name. It is here we begin; with the Assassin emerging out of the Warp and into a system left untouched by Mankind.**_

_+++Status of Cryopod 32459761. Critical.+++_

_+++Recommended Course of Action?+++_

_+++Warp exit ahead. Leave via Warp jump?+++_

_+++Affirmative. Warp Drives activated now.+++_

_The Cryopod, carrying the lone Assassin slowly sped up and began to speed towards what appeared to be a swirling exit to the long, uncontrolled tunnels of the Immaterium. The Cryopod increased in speed; a shield flickering to life as it started to absorb the damage caused by the speed needed to exit the Warp. finally; after reaching optimal speed; the Cryopod shot through the swirling mass of the exit, and emerged from the Warp tunnel even more heavily damaged, but still intact._

_+++Status reassessment. Cryopod heavily Damaged.+++_

_+++Recommended Course of Action?+++_

_+++Search on scanners for any habitable planets.+++_

_The scanner within the Cryopod blared to life; as it sent out its pulses, a piece of the Cryopod broke off, making it even more unstable with every second. After several minutes of scanning; the Cryopod detected a nearby planet full of life._

_+++Habitable planet located. Diverting Cryopod to planet codified 4532.+++_

_The Cryopod lurched; its ceramite plating groaning under the stress put upon it. It started to pick up speed; slowly starting to fall apart as it sped towards the planet. It descended into the upper atmosphere and began to heat up as the shielding protecting it started to fail._

_+++Warning! Warning! Shielding Failure! Engine Failure! Xenos Detected!+++_

_The Cryopod finally started to slow as it arrived into the lower atmosphere; its descent began to arc, sending it towards a forest in the distance. Suddenly, one of the supposed Xenos shot by the flaming and sparking craft. This Xeno was an Equine by nature; yet it possessed the wings of a bird upon its back. It was very colorful; almost like a Rainbow it flew. It skidded to a stop as the Cryopod flew by, staring for a minute before following it to see what the Cryopod was. As the Cryopod neared the ground; it initiated the last stages of its inner workings._

_+++Emergency Wakeup protocol initiated.+++_

_+++Time to Serve the Emperor again, Assassin.+++_

_+++Brace for Crash-landing.+++_

The Assassin slowly but surely began to wake as the craft edged ever closer to the forest; its pursuer staying a cautious distance away. The Assassin opened his eyes for the first time in ten millennia; he hurriedly gazed about the pod; before glancing to the front and seeing that the pod was about to touch down. He readied himself for the landing; it would be hard, brutal, and short. The Cryopod finally gave in to the planet's gravity; and it hit the ground. As it ploughed along through the forest; it knocked over trees, bushes, animals, anything that was in its was smashed aside. The pod finally slowed to a stop after it hit a thick oak tree that was blocking its path. The pod was still steaming; its armored plating scorched and damaged beyond any hope of repair. The wiring that had kept the machine working now dangled out of it; sparking occasionally as the plasma generator powering them still functioned.

Soon; the little Equine Xeno landed nearby, and it cautiously advance_d towards the Craft. it did not yet see the Assassin within; but instead chose to stare at the sleek and stark beauty of this metal machine. As the Xeno stared; it did not notice a creäture of immense stature sneaking up behind it from the forest. This creäture had the looks of a lion; yet it also possessed long, bat-like wings on its back. It stalked the Xeno until it was right behind it. A dark shadow fell upon the Xeno; and it slowly turned around to see the Mutant lion staring it in the face. It instantly bucked the Mutant in the face; but not before being swept aside like a toothpick. The Mutant followed the Xeno; cornering it at the base of the large Oak tree that had stopped the Assassin's ship. He swore he heard it speak in High Gothic._

"This is not how I envisioned me dying. I always thought it would be cooler than this."

He finally chose to show himself; he smashed his armoured Gauntlet through the glass, shattering it instantly and alerting the Mutant and the Xeno Equine to his presence. The Mutant turned around; only to see a strange creäture covered fully in a sleek black armor. It pointed a long, boxy metal thing at it; a red laser was lining up on its forehead. This was the last thing the Mutant Lion ever saw; for the Assassin squeezed the trigger on his rifle and fired, the round exploded out of the rifle with a noise so loud, the Xeno Equine had to cover its ears. The very forest went quiet at the sound of the round going off. The round sped along its path of destruction; stopping only after penetrating the Mutants skull bone. The round sat only for a moment before detonating within the Mutants brain; sending blood, skull pieces, brain matter and fur all over the place. It coated the Equine, the smashed Cryopods side, the ground, and even the Assassin himself. He brushed the bloody chunks of flesh and bone off of his gleaming armor, and then he readied his rifle again, this time, for the Xeno.

"That…..That was…..So Awesome!" The Equine shouted suddenly; making the Assassin stop from reloading his rifle for but a moment.

"You totally rock!" It continued on. "What…..What are you exactly." It asked, looking at the Assassin even closer.

He finished loading and readying the rifle; and he aimed it once again, this time, the Xeno would die. He said one thing before he took the shot.

"White Death." The Xeno Equine finally realized what he was to do; and it started to try to fly away, but this Assassin was quick to the trigger. He fired; and it struck the Xeno in its midsection. It screamed in agony as it fell out of the sky, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. The Assassin slid his rifle into its holster on his back as he slowly stepped out of the still smouldering wreckage of the Cryopod; and he dropped to the ground, as silent as the nights on Terra, he moved. He advanced with a caution stemming from centuries of experience; he knew that any creäture, sentient or not, would respond with hostility after it has been wounded. As he came to the Equines resting place; he found that it was extensively injured, much of its internal organs were destroyed by the high speed round of his Exitus rifle. It was still alive and breathing; surprising the Assassin slightly, but it would not stay that way for long. He only had one thing to ask of it as he slid out his combat knife; it gleamed dully with the sunlight, casting an eerie glare of light upon his already intimidating black carapace armor.

"What is your name Xeno?" He asked. Getting no response other than a jerk of its head to look at him. He continued. "Tell me, I like to know whom I kill; and I will make your death swift and merciful like that Mutant back there." He said plainly, pointing back to his Cryopods wreckage.

The Equine opened its mouth to speak.

"My…..My name…..is….Rainbow Dash." It said hoarsely, before coughing up a large amount of blood and phlegm from its throat.

The Assassin said nothing as he kneeled down next to the Xeno; he held the serrated knife to its head, and plunged it straight through its skull. With a wrenching twist, he ended its life. I small trickle of blood joined the large mass of it filling the ground around the Equine. It soaked his boots, caking them in coagulating blood. The Assassin slid the knife slowly out of its skull and wiped the blood on its fur before sheathing the ancient blade. He stood up slowly; and stretched; to him, this was just another day of his job. He knew not the time, place or even if he would ever leave this blasted rock. But; what he did know, was that there was more Xenos to fall by his gun, blades, or fists if it came to that. He slowly stalked away from the forest and the smouldering wreckage; heading out into a large expanse of fields that held much beauty.

"Almost like the fields of Macragge." He breathed in amazement. This place was so…..so perfect; untouched by the horrors of war. He took in the serene scene, savoring its immense beauty and peacefulness. The wind blew lightly; it registered in his helmet augers. He was brought back to reality hand when he saw a town off in the far distance.

He shook his head; he had a job to do here, to kill all the Mutants and Xenos in the Emperors name, and he would not fail. He scanned the horizon; and saw a town in the distance. He set out at a brisk pace, hoping that he could reach the town by nightfall and slay all the Heretics that had allowed such Mutation to occur on this paradise of a planet.

_**Thus, Chapter One in this story came to a decisive end. Hello Reader; this is author DeathAngelWolf here. I hope you enjoyed this story; I have painstakingly worked on it for the past few weeks just to prepare it for you to read. I would appreciate any ideas or criticisms you could give me through a Review. Again, hoped you enjoyed the story and Peace to all of you; if there is such a thing, for it is the 41st Millennium, and there is only War.**_


	2. Consorting With Xenos

"_**To Consort with the Xeno is only when it is of the most dire of Situations; I have done it only one other time, and that was when I fought with an Eldar Ranger against an entire Waaagh of Orks. I allowed him to live only because he fought at my side like a Brother-in-arms; I pray to the Emperor himself that I will have no need of ever doing that on this world." Thoughts of the Assassin while on the unknown world.**_

The Assassin had just left the clearings edge; he was moving down a cobbled road when he sighted something on the horizon. He activated his helmets zoom and observed what he guessed was an entire regiment of those Xeno Equines in golden armor, swords sat idly at their backs.

"I am too old for this s**t." He mused as he readied his Exitus Rifle, pistol, and combat knife that he had carried from his days as a Kasakrin Guardsmen. His thoughts went back to the old days; when he had been training in Marksmanship classes on **Macragge**

_**Back in Time; on Macragge, Agisleus Barracks. Four-hundred years before the Horus Heresy.**_

"Yo, Telios; you gonna make your shot or not? The Assassin is watching." Corporal Drake called out to Sergeant Telios.

"Every shot must be perfect; I must not miss this shot." Sergeant Telios said, a light smile on his weathered features.

"Bah; you ever try that in real battle, we'll all be dead before you ever fire the first shot." Drake joked.

"Who knows, might save your a** one day, Corporal." Telios said, returning his focus to his rifle. His rifle was a 998. Godwyn pattern Stalker Bolter; as was usual of Kasakrin Snipers during this time. It had etched on its metal side a single phrase.

"_**Every Man of the Emperor is a Spark in the Darkness; would it be that we all shine as bright as the Emperors light."**_

The Assassin of the Temple Vindicare watched patiently as Telios aimed down his rifle at a target twenty miles away; studying him carefully for any failure in his form or shot. Telios breathed in and out slowly; taking aim at the targets head, he aimed up and his left to compensate for gravity and wind. Then, he fired. The bolt round whizzed through the air like lightning; and soon it found itself buried in the ruins of the target servitors head. Telios carefully lined up every shot; and had slain all targets with clean shots to the head within minutes. He slowly rose from his position; taking care to not make a sound as he left the firing range to join the Assassin. The Assassin looked impressed; his form suggesting that he had clearly never expected a Kasakrin to be able to do that.

"Your test is over Kasakrin-Sergeant Telios; you will be coming with us back to Terra immediately." The Assassin said, his helmet distorting his voice and making him sound like a Monster. The young Kasakrin followed the Assassin out of the room, and his brethren cheered as he left; this was the first time any man of Macragge had been recruited by the legendary Officio Assassinorum.

_**End of Flashback.**_

Telios shook his head; trying to clear his mind of those old memories. He had to focus on the task at hand; killing an entire regiment of these Xenos without revealing himself. After breathing in and out slowly for several minutes, he carefully took aim at what appeared to be the sergeant; taking care not to have his laser sight active, lest he give away his position. He made sure to compensate for gravity; as there was no wind in the air to compromise his shot. He finally had the perfect shot; and he took it. The air filled with the screams of the damned; his rounds sometimes slaying three, even five Xenos with one shot. He watched as the Xenos charged about in a panic; with their leadership gone, they were almost like Orks. Only they didn't kill each other in a frenzied bloodlust.

Telios smirked under his helmet. "This is too d**n easy; they die as though they have never fought before." He pondered as he continued to fire. Soon though, the entire regiment was dead or dying; he emerged from his hiding spot, sliding his rifle back into its holster on his back and drawing his knife in a fluid manner. He marched forwards; his armor clanking only in that he wanted the Xenos to know he was coming; yes, White Death was coming for them. He watched as they slowly looked over to him; cowering and quaking in fear as he approached. He got to the first of the survivors and leaned down to meet it eye level.

"What…...What are you?" It asked. Telios stared at him for a moment before deciding to tell him; after all, he was about to die anyways.

"I am an Assassin of the Emperor of Mankind; and he has ordered your deaths Xeno scum!" He shouted; wanting all of them to hear. They all quaked even more as the thought of death hit them. Telios slid his knife into the first of them and drew his Exitus pistol before the others could scream. He fired three rounds; all of them hit their mark. Blood splattered everywhere, on Telios, the cobbled stones, and on the Xenos themselves. He took a look around, and saw that there were no other Xenos still alive. He wiped the blood off of his knife, and then sheathed it and holstered his pistol; and he walked away from the scene of death, back to his original objective, the town.

_**about fifteen minutes later.**_

Telios had just reached the outskirts of the town; and the sun had just begun to set upon his arrival. He observed much of the town as he waited; it looked like a town from the ages of Medieval Terra, thatch roofs, wooden buildings. Yet, it retained a form of modernism that surprised the old Assassin; he had never seen some of the things that they had in this town, and he was from a race of hardened, space-faring warriors. He looked to a nearby park; deciding that he could hide there for the moment, and he activated his stealth cloak and took off at a quick pace. Telios already had arrived at the parks entrance, only to find much of the area deserted; except for one of those Xenos, it had a mint colored coat and a horn atop its head. It sat like people do on a bench near some oak trees. Telios thought for a moment.

"Wait…...A regiment of those Xenos were in golden armor; and they came from the direction this town was in. I met one of them and it flew overhead; before landing to come and see what I was and had arrived in. They clearly are advanced as they can communicate in High Gothic. I have only seen them around; no humans to speak of." He pondered these thoughts in his mind; and came to one conclusion

"I am on a world of Xenos."

He took no anger or sadness at this; he was a warrior of the Emperor, the mailed fist of his will. His only thought was to cleanse this world in the Emperors name; and by any means necessary he would do that. Even…..Even if he needed to use the Xenos themselves to achieve this goal. He looked back to the Xeno; if his theory was correct, he would need to have some shelter in this town for the night. This Xeno may have a residence he could hide in for the night; giving him time to prepare for his mass extermination of this planet. Telios moved from his hiding place and into the park; leaving no trace to tell of his existence. He had made his way to this particular Xeno; and was standing at its side, still cloaked, it did not see him. Telios stood in front of it and deactivated his cloak; scaring the nine hells out of it as his armored body revealed itself. He watched with minor amusement as the Xeno jumped from the bench; and landed behind it, shaking and quivering. Then, as the Xeno took another look at him from behind the bench its expression changed from one of fear to…..Excitement. This confused Telios; no one, not even the daemons of Chaos had looked at him in this regard. It spoke, its tone an amusingly high one.

"I knew it! I knew that Humans existed! They all called me crazy, but I knew it!" the Xeno shouted.

Telios threw his gauntlet forwards and held it over the Xenos mouth; his other, bionic right arm was on the handle of his knife, ready to draw if need be.

"Shut your mouth if you wish to live Xeno." He hissed. The Xeno nodded its head in compliance. "Good; now, if you wish to stay alive you will take me to your residence immediately." He said in a calm, malicious tone. He let go of the Xeno and it seemed to jitter with pure excitement. It calmed down just enough to speak.

"Alright, follow me then." It said with enthusiasm. He sighed as it began to trot off to one of the nearby houses outside the park.

"I already know I am going to regret this." He thought. He made the sign of the Imperial Aquila over his chest to ward of any taint before following the Xeno back to its residence. He entered the house just as the Xeno called out to someone else.

"Bon Bon, I am home! And I brought company too!" It shouted.

"Alright Lyra; just have them take a seat in the parlor and I'll be right down." The other Equine called.

This 'Lyra' then led Telios to the parlor; all the while the Assassin grumbled about how he was going to kill them all, but it was too low for the Equine Xeno to properly make out his words. He was almost forced to sit on the small couch nearby; that was when he decided to overpower the Xeno and he howled in anger in its ear.

"I have already killed one-hundred and one of you Emperor-Damned Xenos! Need I add two more to the number? I am already hating and regretting even deciding to let you live! Do not make me regret my decision any further or I will be using this knife very soon." He said; menace in his tone as he unsheathed his slightly bloody combat knife for Lyra to see. Lyra backed away from him at the threat of death; and sat at a chair opposite to him on the other side of the room. Telios sat down, rage still built inside him; he would need to release it soon or he would potentially affect his combat performance in the field. Finally, the other Xeno joined the two downstairs; and before it could even scream he had lunged forwards, his knife at its throat.

"You make any loud noise; and you die, right here." He said, his tone one of calm rage. "Do you understand what I said? Nod your head if you understand." He got a quick jerk of its head; to which he lowered his knife and sheathed it once more. He calmly walked back to his chair and sat there; Motioning to the Xeno so that it would take a seat as well. This 'Bon Bon' followed his command, and sat next to Lyra in the same chair.

"Lyra, when you said you had company I thought you meant you had a pony friend; not….this thing." Bon Bon whispered in minor disgust.

"That is a human Bon Bon; remember when I told you about them. You didn't believe me but they really do exist." Lyra whispered excitedly.

Telios shouted to them. "Xenos! I have questions for you! Answer them and I may yet spare your lives!" He pulled his Exitus pistol out and held it in his lap as he patiently waited.

"Well, what would you like to know Human?" Lyra asked.

"What planet is this?" He asked.

"E…..Equestria." Bon Bon answered meekly before Lyra could respond.

"What is the main population of Equestria?" He asked, hoping humans would still be here.

"That would be us, Pony's." Lyra replied nonchalantly.

"This one really must like humans to not be quaking in fear at even my shadow; even its friend is quaking and fearful of me." Telios thought.

He then asked. "What is this town?"

"Ponyville sir." Bon Bon answered; beginning to get used to him.

"That will be all I need for now." Telios said standing up He walked over to the staircase and up it in the other room, before hearing the one called Lyra call out.

"Where are you going, human?"

He thought about answering with a joke; but instead decided to tell the honest truth, they had earned that much telling him what they knew.

"To your loft; I enjoy the nights, they are peaceful and remind me of what life used to be like before the Horus Heresy." He stopped; he had already revealed too much information, and the way this pony was it would be asking him for much more information.

He climbed up the last flight of oaken stairs and came out into the loft space; needless to say it was very open and roomy. Windows dotted the walls, allowing some of the nights light in and keeping it dark; just the way he liked it. He gazed out at the beautiful night sky; remembering the night before his deployment off of Terra to assassinate Horus. But before he could go into one of his memory filled images the Equine interrupted him by climbing into the loft and it was breathing heavily from the speed at which it had gotten up here.

"Had….Had to…..Know about…...You." It said, falling over and laying on a patch of hay that was against the wall.

"You are as persistent as my ex-wife; you have to be a real woman of Calth to be that." Telios said, a light smile cracking on his face under his helmet as he watched Lyra with amusement.

"Well, I wanted to know about Humans more; and I wanted to see your hands." Lyra said, her fur shading slightly red out of Embarrassment.

"I suppose I may answer a few questions; but why do you need my hands?" He asked, confused.

Lyra stuttered as she spoke. "I…...I wanted you to…...to pet my mane with them." She asked, hope in her eyes.

Telios immediately shook his head and said. "No, not one man or woman has touched these hands since my right arm was ripped from its socket by a Daemonettes claw."

Lyra looked shocked at this. "you….You lost one of your arms? That is horrible." She said, disbelief written on her features.

"It is something I live with; I barely even notice that my old arm is gone, with this new arm I am even better than before." He said. This seemed to calm Lyra down. "You said that you had questions for me though, didn't you." He said, reminding her.

"yes, I do. I wanted to ask about where you come from." She said.

Telios sighed; he always hated that question; it reminded him of his homeworld of Calth, long since its surface laid to waste by the traitorous Word Bearers Astartes Legion.

"Calth; my homeworld is Calth. It was a beautiful place, not wracked by war or death. We were a world of soldiers and farmers; living in vast cities that both extended underground as well as for miles on the surface. Our starports were some of the most renowned in the Imperium, as well as our productivity for building and maintaining weapons of war. That all changed though when the Word Bearers betrayed us; they attacked us after our Primarch and Consul Roboute Guilliman was on our world while we readied to defend another system from invasion by an Ork Waaagh. billions died in that attack; our worlds atmosphere stripped away permanently. We could no longer live on the surface without protection; our world now is barren and lifeless on the surface." He paused for a moment. "Is that enough information about my planet Lyra." He asked after looking back to the now in tears pony.

"Your….your world is dead? How is that possible?" Lyra choked out.

"In my universe; a thousand world's a day died, be it because they refused to join the Imperium, or because they succumbed to Chaos, or were destroyed by Xenos. It is nothing new in my mind; we as humanity have endured much worse than the loss of a single world." Telios said with a shrug. Lyra was still not consoled with this explanation. the little pony just kept crying and sobbing like a child at his misfortune. He frowned, he knew he would hate himself for many years after this and would never be able to get enough penitence to cure himself of this but he had to do it. He reached over to Lyra and gave the pony an iron gripped hug, softly stroking her mane while he held her. Lyra sobbed into his shoulder as he held her. After several minutes of hm patiently stroking her mane and holding her; she started to pull away from him, to which he was glad for.

"T…...Thank you mr….."

"Telios, you may call me Telios." He interrupted, telling her his name.

"Thank you Telios; I needed that badly or I just don't know when I would have stopped." Lyra said, a smile on her face.

"I may be a cold Assassin; but I am not heartless. Nor do I truly hate any Xeno; I just do my job the way I am ordered to by the Emperor himself." Telios said. The two then sat up in the loft; gazing out into the stars and talking about each others worlds for the rest of the night.

_**Thus, Chapter two in this story came to a decisive end. Hello Reader; this is author DeathAngelWolf here. I hope you enjoyed this story; I certainly did while writing it. Leave me a review with your thoughts and ideas as well as any criticisms you may have about my story. Have a wonderful day Reader and remember; "Today, We march for Calth!" Words of Captain Remus Ventanus, Hero of Calth.**_


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